Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic access systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for monitoring access to fenced or unfenced remote locations, fields or outdoor sites such as, without limitation, hydrocarbon recovery locations, well sites or any land or offshore based hydrocarbon recovery facilities
Description of the Related Art
Industrial companies can have remote production facilities in remote environments. Such remote facilities can use manufacturing equipment, machines and systems to perform various operational stages of a planned work including building, preparation, production or maintenance. Depending on the work, the work schedules in such remote facilities can be continuous, a year around fashion, or seasonal, which are followed by operators or work crews assigned to the remote facility.
For example, hydrocarbon recovery or production fields, such as for oil or natural gas production, are often located in remote locations and include equipment such as drilling rigs, pumps and other related equipment and machinery. The equipment in such remote fields is most often attended by on-site machine operators or crews whom actually operate or maintain the equipment, although the company owning the facility is located in a city often hundreds of miles away.
During an active operation cycle, the operators generally can operate the equipment such as the drilling equipment. However, if the operation is not a day-to-day activity, for example, a post drilling work activity involving hydrocarbon recovery using pumps and storage tanks, a maintenance operator or a maintenance crew can visit the facility periodically to observe the operation in the facility.
In either case, in the instances, for example, where the facility experiences a problem, the operator must then solve the problem or alert the company for help. The problem can be related to the machinery malfunction, vandalism or natural catastrophe related given the remote nature of the facility.
In today's economy, the lost productivity and opportunity due to unwanted down time generated by such problems can be extremely costly if a service crew or engineer is not dispatched on time to the remote site of the facility by the company.
Therefore, it is important for the company monitor the activity of the operators on the remote site to reduce the amount of facility down time to a minimum while increasing reliance by getting instantly updated about problems, changes or modifications in the facility.
Thus, from the foregoing, there is an unaddressed need exists for a novel system and method in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies quickly and efficiently.